Hradisko u Obřan Hillfort

Hradisko u Obřan is an important archaeological site of the late Bronze Age, located in the Brno district of Obřany on the syenite island above the Svitavou River. This cultural monument of the Czech Republic excels with a continuous settlement that lasted for over 1300 years.

The origins of the settlement date back to the younger Bronze Age, namely the Velatic Culture. The main flowering occurred in the late Bronze Age, in the 9th to 8th century B.C., within the Dumpster Field Culture, known as the Podolite Culture. Subsequently, the site was used by people from the older times of the Iron Age (Halštat and Horace culture), the Celts from the younger times of the Iron Age (Latin culture), and later the inhabitants of the Roman era and the period of movement of nations.

The area of 42 hectares is protected by massive walls that reach a height of up to 5 metres on the north and east sides. A complement to the main fort is the settlement in the position of the Rock, where the walls form an aluminium embankment with a reinforced wooden front wall; their crown exceeds the surrounding terrain by 4 to 4.5 metres. Remains of residential buildings, artisanal workshops, pottery furnaces, fires and storage pits were discovered in the area.

Research of the site has been drawing attention since the beginnings of Moravian archaeology. At the end of the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century, amateurs worked around the Brno Museum Association, among them Florián Koudelka, Josef Hladík, Jan Fila, brothers Slovak or Eduard Vodička. The professional survey was dominated by František Adámek, which published a comprehensive monograph in 1961. In 1981, rescue research was carried out in connection with the construction of a gas pipeline, in which a first-century blacksmith's workshop was examined.

The key find is a large heat burial site near the west section of the north wall. Although 250 graves have been explored, the total number is estimated at up to 2000. The dead were mostly placed in circular pits. Grave equipment consisted of vessels of various shapes and sizes, which originally contained food. Some of the vessels used to serve as an urn for ashes and burnt bones, other times the remains were stored directly at the bottom of the pit. Other items include bronze ornaments, weapons or tools.

Hradisko u Obřan is today protected as a cultural monument and forms part of the educational path. The location represents a unique testimony about the long history of the settlement of the region and is worth visiting every interested person in ancient history.